Nortek takes new approach

LAS VEGAS—Nortek Security has acquired a number of companies over the years, including Linear and 2GIG. As a holding company, Nortek mostly allowed those companies to do business as they saw fit.

Until now. Nortek's got a new plan in play.

Nortek “is very serious about growing our identity and resources” and that means taking a more active role in promoting sharing among its vertical companies, Avi Rosenthal, VP of security and control, told Security Systems News.

All Nortek subsidiaries now work together and their products will be offered together, he said.

Those products include the home control and automation sector, while Nortek continues its commitment to home security.

It all fits in with the company's new focus on growth, identity and resources, Rosenthal said. “Now we are a family of companies.”

To that end, Nortek's Linear subsidiary has been renamed Nortek Security & Control. Linear, 2GIG and Go!Control will be the company's cornerstone brands, each targeting key markets. The idea is to put everybody into the same category and help everybody share resources, Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal, contacted here just as he arrived for CES 2015, said it used to be that Nortek acquired companies but “didn't do much about developing them or growing them. They did their own thing. They had their own successes and failures.”

Each ran as independent organizations.

“There was very little direction from top down, but now we're fostering ongoing communication between all companies so we're all on same page,” Rosenthal said.

“We are sharing ideas and sharing concepts across the board,” he said.

All Nortek Security products will work together, he said.

Linear will continue as Nortek's access control leader; 2GIG will be the professional security brand; and Go!Control will be the retail security brand, Rosenthal said.

Customers of each brand will now have access to the others.

“We are still the company we were before, what is exciting is that things will now be integrated together. There will be a wider range of products [available to our customers], more integrated products in the future, a wider range of choices for their customers to more installations,” he said.